


Ganymede

by cathalin



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-20
Updated: 2009-09-20
Packaged: 2017-10-17 21:37:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/181404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathalin/pseuds/cathalin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The constellations -- and the story of Zeus and Ganymede -- may hold some truth for Adam and Kris's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ganymede

"I think that's it, right there." Kris pointed, arm warm against Adam's side. His voice sounded gravely from exhaustion.

Adam smiled. "Yeah, there it is. My sun sign."

"Water-bearer," Kris said.

Adam turned to look at Kris. "How did you know that!"

Kris shook his head. "I dunno. Camping when I was a kid, I guess?"

Adam shivered a little. "Hmm. Glad I'm not camping tonight. It's fucking cold. I mean, it's May! How can that even be possible!"

Kris laughed. "Ocean breezes, man. You explained it to me yourself, back when I thought California was all sunburn and surfing."

Adam sighed. "Yeah, well, it's worth it, freezing my ass off, getting away from it all. Just for a few minutes, you know?"

Kris nodded and moved a little closer into Adam's side. "Oh, yeah. I mean, I love 'em all, but if I had to talk with one more fan or do one more interview saying the same thing for the hundredth time right now..." He put on his interview voice. "Yes, we really are friends. No, I don't hate him for his hair product. Yes, I'm Christian and from Arkansas. No, he doesn't actually leave lube around the--Oh, wait."

Adam giggled. "Stop!" He felt Kris's body shake with suppressed laughter. "Fucker. And yeah, tell me about it." He tried to scrunch closer to Kris without it seeming like that was what he was doing. It really was fucking cold. L.A. was experiencing some kind of freaky weather that blew all the haze away and dropped the temperature. He'd had this idea after the show earlier that night, when he took one look at Kris's face and saw the same kind of weary panic he was feeling himself. Turned out Kris had never been up here to Griffith Park, and didn't mind sneaking under the locked fence, either. He figured they had about twenty minutes before their cell phones started lighting up; they'd made it to the stage of the competition where they weren't let out of the sight of the powers that be for more than a few minutes.

Kris sighed and eased back a little more against the backrest they'd fashioned out of some old blankets from Adam's trunk and a big rock.

The stars were sharp prickles of silver, and it was blissfully quiet. If you didn't think about it, you wouldn't know that there were millions of people in a thriving city just beyond the border of the Park. "I've only been able to see the stars so brightly once or twice in L.A.," Adam said. "Too much ambient light."

"The stars back home are fierce," Kris murmured, voice stretched and honey-deep. "I used to sit out nights and look at 'em, wonder what they'd look like from other places."

Adam smiled, thinking of Kris as a boy, a dreamer even then. Not many people got that about Kris, that he spent a lot of time in his own head, but it'd become clear to Adam pretty early on.

"Adam."

There was silence for a while, so eventually Adam said, "Yeah?"

"Whichever of us, you know. I mean, you know I think it should be you who wins, right?"

"And I think vice-versa." Adam kept his voice light. They'd been over this before.

"Yeah, but, I mean. I don't want it, whichever way it goes, to affect--To screw with us, our friendship, you know?"

Okay, that was definitely excuse enough to get a little more body heat going, so Adam did what he'd wanted to do all night and turned, pulling Kris into a hug, arms around him. Kris buried his head in Adam's chest and breathed out, a deep long exhale like pushing bad stuff out of you. Adam rested his head on top of Kris's, let himself drop a soft kiss there; it wasn't like he hadn't done that before, and he needed this, too, needed it badly. "Never," he said fierce into Kris's hair. "It doesn't matter any more." He smiled. "We're already, you know, stars."

Kris shoved at him futilely and Adam laughed.

"Terrible puns R You," Kris mumbled into Adam's shirt.

"Reach for the stars, baby," Adam chortled.

Kris punched his arm and Adam just laughed harder.

"I've got a star right here," Kris said, squeezing, "but I'm gonna kill him, because now he's got me making terrible jokes."

"If you kill me, you'll have to sing No Boundaries, hundred percent. If you let me live, I figure it's about sixty-forty odds."

Now it was Kris's turn to giggle; Adam felt him shake against him. "Oh, shit, don't remind me!" Kris pulled up and rested on his elbow. He looked down at Adam and smiled, the little half-smile he got where the corner of his mouth turned up. "I lied, by the way."

"About what, Kristopher?" He was still keeping it light, but he could tell Kris had something to say.

Kris stared down at Adam for a few moments, and Adam felt the quiet gather around them, tangible. Kris pressed his lips together, then smiled softly. "It wasn't from camping. I read about it, Aquarius, couple of months ago." It hovered in the air unspoken: After I met you.

"Okay," Adam said, bringing a hand to Kris's free hand, squeezing briefly.

Kris grabbed Adam's hand back when he tried to pull it away, looked down at their clasped fingers. "Ganymede, water-bearer, to the Greeks. The beautiful boy Zeus fell in love with." He looked up and met Adam's eyes. "I'm not saying--" Kris stopped, swallowed. "I'm saying you're a star, a beautiful star, in the stupid L.A. sky."

Adam's eyes stung, sudden, at the gifts the universe gave, dropped in your lap out of nowhere. He squeezed Kris's hand, and didn't try to cover his face or hide anything. "He loved him back, Ganymede. I know it."

Kris's eyes shone in the faint light, suspiciously glassy. "Yeah. Neither of them could help it."

Adam nodded, once, sharp, biting his lip.

Kris took a breath, then another. "Well, come on." He shoved himself up to a stand, yanked on Adam's hand. "They'll be sending hunting parties after us." His voice sounded thick.

Adam cleared his throat. "Or Simon, even worse."

"Yeah. He'd be having an aneurism if he knew his prized boy was wandering around a deserted park in the cold."

"Prized vocal cords is more like it."

Kris laughed. "The dollar signs in his eyes would be spinning."

They got to the car and loaded the blankets into the trunk, then stood there a second in silence. Kris glanced up and pointed. "It's already setting."

"Aquarius is like that," Adam said softly. "It's not visible in the sky a whole lot in the northern hemisphere. We were lucky to see it."

"We're lucky, period."

Adam looked at Kris and smiled. There were some things he wanted that he couldn't have, but Kris was right. "Yes. We are."

"Damn straight," Kris said.

Kris put his hand on Adam's arm and left it there, warm, for the whole drive back.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for lferion, who gave the prompt, "reach for the stars" and requested something friendship/slashy, or whatever. <3


End file.
